Maria Abaca, RN Examines Glaucoma Testing and Treatment

Maria Abaca, RN examines new reports that look at testing and treatment for glaucoma. As Maria Abaca, RN explains, there is still much confusion regarding the effectiveness of current testing and treatment options.

There are many different types of glaucoma, including angle-closure or acute glaucoma, open-angle or chronic glaucoma, congenital and secondary glaucoma, but in general the term glaucoma refers to a group of conditions of the eye that cause damage to the optic nerve and is the second-most common cause of blindness in the US.

Recently the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) examined a plethora of studies and reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of current testing and treatments for glaucoma. What they discovered was that inadequate evidence exists to fully determine if certain methods of treatment and testing are effective. [1]

In terms of testing the study looked at whether screening was effective for adults that did not exhibit vision problems and found that they could neither say that early screening was or was not helpful in prevention. In terms of treatment, the USPSTF determined that while they could say that treatment methods such as surgical, laser, and other medical procedures were effective, they could not determine if one treatment was more effective than the other.

Roughly 2.5 million residents of the United States suffer from open-angle glaucoma, which is the most common form of glaucoma.

An expert not associated with the study, Dr. Louis Pasquale of the glaucoma center at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, had this to say about the findings:

"What this study is saying is there are many ways of lowering eye pressure and we don’t know which one is best for minimizing visual disability and maximizing patient happiness while they’re being treated for glaucoma.” [2]

What is clear from the study is that more evidence will need to be collected by the task force in order to determine what methods are most effective for treatment and prevention.

Maria Abaca, RN

[1] http://news.nurse.com/article/20130224/NATIONAL02/103040014/-1/frontpage
[2] Salamon, Maureen. "Best Glaucoma Treatments Still a Puzzle, Task Force Reports." Health News / Tips &Trends / Celebrity Health. Health Media Ventures, 18 Feb. 2013.